On Descended Black Wings
by rwbybomb21
Summary: Two Shot: A Maiden, a Warrior, a Genius; all words to describe Ruby Goodwitch-Rose. But how deep do those traits dig, and how do they serve to define her when she's naught but a girl that wants to fight and sleep for the rest of her life? Faunus! Ruby, OOC Ruby.


**An Idea that just came out of nowhere; just a little bit of a cheeky Two-shot, so don't expect anything more.**

 **Also, as a side note, all of my work will be on hiatus as I celebrate finishing college and having my birthday- birthday was on July 22** **nd** **if ya'll wanted to know.**

 **This story contains the following: jabs at Jaune's masculinity, a new writing style, over thirty thousand words, actual plot, breaks in-between the line breaks for 'immersion', and a seriously mentally damaged, battle-loving, slightly crazy, emotionally scarred Ruby. Pyrrha is OOC, Ruby is OOC, Yang is OOC, and so is Glynda. This is my fanfic, I can do what I want to the characters, alright!?**

 **Lastly, this is the longest Two-Shot I've ever written- honestly I think I snapped my fingers writing this.**

 **Briefly mentioned RubyxMilitiaxMelanie, and hints of one-sided NeoxYang and one-sided PyrrhaxRuby. Established overall pairing is RubyxAmber, not something seen an awful lot.**

(^^^^^^)

" _It doesn't matter whether it's that of a human, of an animal, of a black man or a white woman…blood is still blood, and it doesn't discriminate when spilled."_

 _-Rwbybomb21 (Me)_

(^^^^^^)

 _When I was but a child, the world seemed so large- so vast and filled with knowledge and experience I felt some sort of primal desire to learn, to acknowledge as fast and as soon as possible. That foolish need of knowing everything vanished soon after- as a child's thoughts do, it lingered for as quick as it left, leaving nothing but an empty head ready to be filled with knowledge others would impart upon me, as a liquid would be absorbed by a sponge. When one is young that is all they are, really; nothing but sponges, nothing but eager to suck up any and all information to sate curiosity._

 _By the age of four my life had changed; my mother, Summer Rose, had passed away- torn limb from limb in front of my very eyes not by Grimm, not by animals with a primal need to hunt for their food. No, if that was the case then I would simply be able to let go after all this time. Instead she was ripped to shreds, dismembered and violated in the upmost disgusting of ways before finally being put out of her misery- or 'put down' as they'd so racially slurred…by none other than the humans she walked with._

 _When I was five I was adopted by a woman with the softest green eyes you've ever seen- behind them were emotions I didn't even realise a human could possess for a Faunus. Sympathy for starters, along with little hints of horror- most likely at the news of what I had seen when I was but a four-year-old- and no small amount of warmth. But something else as well, something…more than all of that. Something more than all of those, shadowing them all in a great blanket of muffling contempt._

 _Fear._

 _She was afraid, it seemed of my very existence, or at least that I'd try to end it. Understandable, really- if I ever had a daughter, I would never wish upon her what I had witnessed, and as any person would, they also feared that what the child, in this case me, had seen would be too much for them, and in the end they would kill themselves to end the nightmares they would no doubt get._

 _My nightmares were plentiful, but not suicide-worthy. I mean, sure I had witnessed my own mother's torture, dismemberment, rape and eventual death at the hands of family friends and neighbours, but it was all naught compared to her green eyes. Those green eyes and their concern were all that kept me from suicide, actually- felt some distinct need to make this woman happy; she had saved me from my past by simply adopting me, and as long as I was under her roof, or in the very least the carrier of her last name, I would make one Glynda Goodwitch proud._

 _By the time of my ninth birthday, I'd gained an understandably large amount of knowledge in the ways of Dust manipulation, weaponry, combat abilities, knowledge of aura, and many more things all Huntress-related. If I were to live under a huntress's roof, with said huntress teaching me how to survive and protect myself, the least I could do is take that knowledge and expand upon it. I would use these skills to protect her, and all she holds dear- of course I was also doing this for a selfish reason, as all humans, despite their outlook on life, had. My selfish desire was to simply make her smile, make my new mother smile and laugh and chuckle and grin, and have every single happy emotion that a person with a daughter should have._

 _Being a Faunus in a still semi-racist country like Vale though ensured it was difficult to obtain the necessary knowledge from libraries, but I managed._

 _At ten we'd discovered my semblance was two-fold, something not many on the planet of Remnant had. Speed, which was a given considering whom exactly my birth mother was, and, surprisingly, the same as my adoptive mother- magic. Or, I guess, the strongest type of aura manipulation there was connected to a semblance, rivalled only by the Schnee bloodline. The Goodwitch line was something of a rarity- it was a bloodline that wasn't necessarily connected by blood, but more of a wielder of the line unconsciously leaking their aura into a person that hadn't fully developed their aura yet thus, essentially, granting them a semblance not of their blood._

 _Of course I felt as though I'd stolen such a precious gift, but mother had firmly stated "There's no one I'd rather have my semblance in their veins than my own daughter". That made me swell with joy, and that need to protect became thrice-fold._

 _By the time I had reached the age of twelve, where one can be considered a mutant combination of not-quite-child-but-not-quite-teenager, mother had declared me on level with Signal students in their third year of combat training. That made both of us swell with pride only a duo of mother and daughter could feel. I had pride in my mother's teaching skills, something I'd expressed time and again, and my mother herself felt pride in how much I'd grown and upheld the Goodwitch name with my advanced use of dual semblances._

 _So, we had decided between us both that, by my fifteenth birthday I would be enrolled into my mother's school, the place of her work; Beacon Academy._

 _Now fifteen and looking back, I would have never guessed that my induction into Beacon would have been like this._

(^^^^^^)

One Ruby Rose had seen it all, she mused, and most of it had been unimpressive and pathetic in the very least. The world was quite a dark place for the young Goodwitch- her birth mother butchered in front of her very eyes, ingrained into her memory, had changed her to be a more cynical child; someone that had a dark and gloomy outlook, but fought for others anyway if only to protect their brighter outlook. Something she lacked, and something she felt she neither deserved nor wanted.

She was no young emotionally stunted girl with a bleak outlook that wanted nothing more than a reason to live- she has a reason, and she isn't exactly emotionally stunted. Growing up around an Academy teacher for a mother had required her to be, in the very least, tolerant of others and their emotions when they are around her. Obviously to do that she was exposed to other people. So no, emotionally stunted was not on the very long list that described one Ruby Goodwitch either.

The slight softness of the classical music almost shuffling slowly through her small red and black earphones reminded her of what she was doing- reading. More precisely, reading in a slightly dark corner with a pair of red and black aviators on, staring at a magazine about the newest Dust types recently discovered and the latest hi-tech Dust based weaponry. Something had caught her eye- something simple, yet elegant all the same. A small baton, eerily reminiscent of her own mother's Dust-based riding crop, though it looked more suited for a conductor of an orchestra than a weapon. She could see the small lines along the side though that were, more than likely, a small chamber for the Dust that was apparently supposed to be used with the weapon- hard not to considering the magazine showed off everything about it, almost with glowing pride. Alongside that, at the tip of the thin foot-and-a-half long baton was a small hole, supposedly where the Dust would be released or loaded. To be honest the weapon magazine didn't really tell her much about the weapon, more of who made it, and how it was made.

Sighing, she turned another page…only to see a continuation of the last page.

This magazine was really showing off this weapon. Though in her mind, it made sense considering they hadn't released an issue for almost three months, and to lure in new readers and win back old ones from that god-awful Weapons Weekly magazine they were showing off the latest in technological weaponry most-related to Dust. Again, sense was made; considering all the previous issues of the magazine showed off normal weaponry that was converted to being able to channel Aura and Dust, or simply showing off facts about Dust that many must have known about, it wasn't all that surprising they'd show off the only weapon they've ever featured specifically exclusive to Dust.

When she felt a less-than-soft tap on her shoulder, Ruby turned her head over her shoulder, the red and black locks of her hair that she'd purposefully let grow out to reach the bottom of her hips swaying slightly; if one looked close they'd see that some of the hair was actually red and black feathers. Looking slightly over her aviators, Ruby sighed, this time out loud- a robbery…why could nothing go her way for once?

This momentarily brought her back to her earlier monologue of how dark her perception of the world was; she was so engrossed, in fact, that she failed to hear the black-suited, red-shaded armed robber's demands.

While he was seemingly waiting for her response, Ruby reached her left hand up to her left ear, and gently removed the earbud. Doing the same with her right ear with the same hand, the right hand keeping a hold on the magazine she'd previously been reading, she noticed the man in front of her was becoming impatient. She rolled her eyes when he opened his mouth to speak, and as if some unknown force had grabbed his jaw and snapped it shut, he stopped before he even began speaking- the look in Ruby's eyes frightened him, because there was no look in her eyes at all. Usually there was fear, arrogance, some form of excitement even, but never the look of someone that was seemingly going about their daily life. The look in her eyes reminded the black haired man of a normal person going about their day-to-day; hints of boredom, with nothing but calmness.

Those eyes were the last thing he saw, along with a foot flying towards his nose, before an all-encompassing blackness flooded his vision, and he drifted off into unconsciousness.

Ruby simply rolled her eyes again, before noting the weapon in his hand and properly looking at the red sunglasses on his face.

"So…Torchwick is here." Leaning down, her eyes shadowed by her aviators, the black cape-like cloak on her back ruffling in some unseen wind, she noted the man's red and sunshades had a particular shape on the bridge of the nose in the form of a 'J'. "…But he has Junior's men. Curious, I thought them all injured or out of commission because of last Wednesday's attack."

She was referring to, of course, the time that one Yang Xiao-Long had taken it upon herself to question the head honcho of a nightclub- Hei 'Junior' Xiong- for the whereabouts of a rather dangerous individual. To be precise, she was searching for her birth mother, one Raven Branwen. Her own mother Glynda had told little Ruby stories about her teammates and her friends; one such friend being Raven. She seemed like a nice enough woman, if a little disillusioned with the world, and bitter about everything to do with it.

Her husband for all of two years, Taiyang Xiao-Long, was devastated when she professed her dislike for living in a domesticated scene instead of being a huntress, and after many thorough nights of arguments, she up and left. No letter, no warning, just left. The only thing Yang actually had of her was a picture of her face and an old, worn, moth-eaten orange scarf.

Oh she knew of Taiyang's blood relativity to herself, but in all honesty Ruby hadn't ever seen the man- Summer had whisked the two of them far away from the man once he became slightly controlling of the amount of hunting missions she underwent. Due to never seeing him, plus hating how he thought he could keep an active huntress- two, if Yang's mother was any indication- form their jobs to raise children with him, then he was a fool and had warranted no rights to speak to her.

Ruby had made this fact quite clear to Glynda, who agreed wholeheartedly; the man was a drunken control freak obsessed with the idea of a 'good life'. Ruby wanted no part of a family like that.

What had interested her though was Yang's second target as well; specifically, Yang was looking for her. A picture of Ruby when she was four, with red and black hair and silver shining eyes glancing at the camera with a beaming smile was the image she had shown Junior. Of course he knew of her existence, but I mean…why betray your co-workers' girlfriend for some chick that he didn't even know? For all Junior knew she wanted to kill Ruby, and as much as he may have hated Ruby's huntress occupation, he loved her like a sister- Glynda hadn't done anything to stop it, so she figured her mother must be okay with it, or in the very least neutral about it.

Of course when Yang had shown her picture, the twins, Melanie and Militia, had gotten pretty violent. One traded barb- and Junior's crushed 'junior'- later, and the twins where in an Intensive Care Unit for third and second degree burns across twenty percent of their bodies and severe aura drain.

Ever since she held no love for that family- before then she'd thought of at least visiting her sister, but now? Now that was off the table permanently, and her sister was on her shit-list.

"Odd that this one didn't notice who I was, though; newbie perhaps?" shaking her head, a black father falling out and gracefully drifting to the floor as she did so, Ruby grunted. "It doesn't matter. I'll have to talk with him about that later."

Sighing, Ruby stood, feeling her naturally arched back crack slightly, causing her to wince in slight pain- being a raven Faunus sucked. You had a hunched back, you have talons for feet, and you had awkwardly bent legs. It was a miracle in and off itself she hadn't begun screaming in pain as she straightened her legs, but then again she'd been used to her heritage all her life. The only Faunus species that got it worse than she did were the mole Faunus. And that's simply because they were born blind from the start. They had the ability to dig underground, though, so that's a plus.

About five minutes and a massive beat-down later, and all of Junior's men that had been hired out to Roman were undoubtedly in need of medical care- nothing life threatening though, she'd made sure to whack them all with her fists instead of her weapon. It wouldn't do to kill them, after all.

That was when she turned from her position, an unconscious thug slipping from her grasp and cracking loudly against the concrete floor, to spot the man that ruined her night; intentionally or not it didn't matter.

Make no mistake she had no illusions about being able to fight such a man as this, but that didn't mean she couldn't stall until her mother or another, more capable Hunter got here, now did it? With this in mind, she raised her hands, a rare grin forming on her face, and cracked each individual knuckle on each hand before settling into the standard kickboxing stance Glynda had taught her for use in self-defence on the off chance her weapon wasn't near her. Hers was, but right now she was stalling, not trying to kill, so there was no need to go all out…yet. She knew Roman would force her to push herself, but in the very least she can give him some trouble.

Deciding to test the waters a bit, she slowly and deliberately reached into her corset's chest pocket, not unlike her mother's own workplace-style corset, and grabbed a pair of black leather gloves. Putting them on and tightening them slowly until you could hear her knuckles cracking under the pressure, she settled back into her stance once more, unblinking silver eyes hardened but a grin forming.

No matter which way this went, tonight was the night she got the best fight of her life.

To Roman's credit, all he did at that was raise an eyebrow in surprise and flick his almost-always-present cigar out of his mouth- undoubtedly finding it hard to believe that a little girl that looked like a twelve-year-old managed to beat up fourteen armed men…while _unarmed_. One thing was certain though, this twelve-year-old didn't look like a twelve-year-old. Sure she was small, but with a large chest like that and hips like those? He'd peg her at twenty-four if it wasn't for the shortness of her height.

Rolling his neck side to side, cracking his upper spine slightly as he did so, Roman tilted his head sideways, as if observing a curiosity. "Well…what do I call you? Hmm, need to think of a nickname…" After a full minute of thinking, Roman just sighed, before grabbing his cane and aiming straight at the slightly grinning girl with her hands and feet ready to kick his ass if she got close enough. He knew he could take her, he had this feeling, but at the same time…he had this instinct to turn tail and run as if hell was chasing him. Not one to abandon his instincts, he instead abandoned his rational thought- and the side of his brain that was still thinking up nicknames for the girl in front of him- and fired his cane. Oh the surprise on her face would have made him laugh if it wasn't for what she did next…she lifted a palm out, the odd black leather gloves around her hands glowing in a dark red aura, and just as his explosive made contact with her palm…it was _absorbed_ into the hand! He'd never seen anything like it!

Deciding that his instincts were worth following he spun on his heel and made a mad dash for the rooftops, using his cane-hook to latch on to a nearby overhead hanging ladder and using the momentum to propel himself halfway up the thing. His white stainless jacket was a little scuffed and brown patches were showing up where he scraped against the brick wall, his hands slightly stained black due to the obviously rusted ladder's decaying metal rubbing on his palms. He was scowling as he climbed; just being near the damn thing made him shiver in disgust, but being on it? He was going to have a very long shower after this.

To Ruby's credit she just blinked in anger- he was _not_ going to deny her this fight!

Momentarily forgetting her mother's order specifically _not_ to use her speed semblance anywhere other than the academy, Ruby blurred out of vision, snapping her leg out and kicking off the ground in the midst of her speed, pushing herself higher than Roman's cane ever could take him. She flew upwards, eyes set on the target that is Roman, and willed herself to go faster; but Roman had already gotten a head start, and by the time she reached the roof with her legs burning from kicking off the ground so hard Roman was already at the top, looking away from her as if waiting for something.

Hearing the distinct thud of someone landing behind him, he turning his head slightly, only to groan aloud at what his eyes bore witness to- there was the wannabe-Goodwitch, in all of her blood-lusting, psychotic glory, a mix between a scowl and a grin on her face, with her hands clenched in fists out in front of her. "You're persistent, I'll give you that."

After a full two seconds of no reply, he prepared himself for a quick escape, before her words stopped him from stepping towards the now in-the-air Bullhead in front of him, and turning towards her with a grin of both understanding and, beneath it, a vulpine grin of scheming.

"You're not leaving until I get a good fight, _Torchwick_!"

Turning to face her fully after a second of thinking, Roman opened his arms wide. Inside of the airship behind him, one Cinder Fall eyed the exchange curiously; fighting for her own beliefs had caused her to be somewhat of a criminal to the people 'not in the loop', and she could tell this girl lived for three things simply form her stance and the look in her eyes- she lived to fight, she lived to protect, and she lived to save.

This girl would do perfectly with her little rag-tag group of freedom fighters, hoping to liberate Vale from the tyrannical government and hand control back to the people. The White Fang under her control were just a means to an end, but everything she slyly promised them was real- they'd end up with peace being an everyday substitute for this shaky post-war peace, and coexistence would be possible.

She wanted to see if this girl has what it takes, though; she also wanted to see how Summer's child, her own self-proclaimed godchild, would be able to protect herself on the off chance that Cinder wasn't able to be there for her.

Because now that she'd found Ruby Rose, she wasn't willing to let her go, ally or not- they were practically related, and in that sense the only relative- living, that is- that Cinder had.

It helped that Ruby was also someone that deeply interested her in the sort of tactical way that she'd previously evaluated Emerald and Mercury.

Of course Ruby also had Glynda, and the sheer thought of that woman put her in a sour mood. It was even worse as she watched the woman appear out of nowhere to protect Ruby from a Dust shard that would have burnt her and everything around her to a crisp. Of course she'd seen the little stunt Ruby pulled with those gloves- and had immediately figured they were some sort of catalyst for a semblance of some sort- and so she knew Ruby could have taken that blast like a champ with nary a scratch.

So why did that woman jump in?

Waving her crop around like some sort of wizard, Glynda flattened her glasses against the bridge of her nose with one hand, the other orchestrating the now moving debris of the blast into a thin spear-like object. With a flick of her wrist in a rather exaggerated move, Glynda sent the thin, purple-glowing spear to rocket forwards and shatter against the side of the Bullhead like glass against a brick wall. To Cinder's surprise however, Ruby moved up next to her and used her gloved palms to move the shards of the spear around flawlessly, crashing against the Bullhead from all sides and causing the ship to shake.

It was at this moment Roman had finally made it into the Bullhead and wrestled with the controls to keep the Bullhead steady enough for a quick escape to be made.

And it was also at that point that Ruby had slammed her palms into the ground with a manic grin on her face while Glynda pushed her glassed up again and brought her riding crop downwards towards the ground.

Two things happened that both amazed and angered Cinder Fall.

Out of the ground from where Ruby had slammed her palms grew a plant that, in no time at all, began firing razor-sharp thorns at her that she could only just barely block and even then took some form of damage. It was amazing simply because she knew for a fact that despite Ruby being rumoured to having two semblances, this was neither of them- speed could definitely not do this, and her magic that she'd inherited from Glynda…well, that could only do that if you had a massive understanding of nature, and if nature had a massive understanding of you.

What angered her was that she was forced to expel the projectiles from the land and sky both because Glynda, in her infinite wisdom, had decided to use explosive piercing magic against a Bullhead loaded full of Dust. The stupidity of that woman knew no bounds it seems.

Using her ridiculously astronomical control over fire, Cinder created a glyph that immediately pushed itself outwards, surrounding her and the ship full of Dust. With a push of both of her hands in what seemed to be sheer exhaustion- because Cinder had to be honest here, it _was_ exhaustive- the fiery glyph pushed itself outwards and utterly obliterated any and all attacks heading towards the ship. With an exhausted nod to Roman, the ship pulled away, with Cinder looking out of the window.

For a small moment, her eyes connected with Ruby's, and the silver-eyed girl simply smirked her way before turning her attention to her scowling but proud mother.

Cinder turned away and closed her eyes.

' _What a day'_.

(^^^^^^)

 **[Four years after meeting]**

" _Did you know that the world used to be so black and white for me? Everything used to be full of butterflies and dandelions, leprechauns at the end of rainbows and glitter flying through the skies…"_

 _Her burning eyes turned to me, and stared deep into my soul for half a second of whatever eye contact we shared before she went back to staring at the moon. "You were young; I was like that too. I used to be scared of the dark, and what lurks within it."_

 _I lifted an eyebrow. "And now?"_

 _She turned to me, her face sorrowful. "I make the Dark crawl away in fear…and I don't want that."_

" _Don't want what?"_

" _To be feared."_

" _By the Grimm?"_

 _She turned to me, her voice steeled and solid. "_ Especially _by them."_

(^^^^^^)

Sitting in the dark and slightly damp interrogation room, Ruby wondered for the hundredth time whether or not she was in trouble. It was hard to discern from her pacing mother, really. The only person she couldn't read like a book seemed to be her mother, and that was simply because she respected her mother's privacy too much- by too much I mean _way_ too much. As in, she'd rather soak herself in Sulphuric Acid than pry too much into her mother's life.

Didn't mean she didn't pry a little. Oh she knew how Glynda acted, how she spoke, how she breathed and how her heart was on the right side instead of the left; but she also knew that despite all of her knowledge, Ruby subconsciously stopped herself from figuring out her mother's true idiosyncrasies. And that annoyed her, as right now her mother's tendencies- between the way to tell if she's lying to the way to tell if she telling the truth- were what she needed right now. All of this waiting was killing her.

Finally, after a full ten minutes of pacing, Glynda turned to her daughter, her stern expression slipping and her voice soft as she spoke- this was her daughter, the only one aside from Ozpin to see this side of her, and the only one in existence to see this side more than once. Ozpin had seen her go soft once, but Ruby had seen her at her weakest.

Glynda didn't find it in her to care, really.

"You did something extremely stupid today, Ruby…but I'm proud of you. Angry a little, but proud all the same."

Moving to Ruby's side, and crouching low so that their eyes could meet- Glynda silently scoffed at the fact that Ruby was shorter and younger than her, but better endowed- Glynda took one of Ruby's now-bare hands in her own, rubbing circles around the left hand's burn scar that creased her hand's once-soft skin. She got that when she was eleven, and still inexperienced in the ways to properly handle Burn Dust, commonly called Fire Dust.

"Ozpin's on his way here; you impressed him, so he's coming here to personally see you."

Ruby caught on immediately, a small roll of the eyes shared by both of them at the same time. Ozpin was a little predictable with how he always expressed his want to visit Ruby- and despite her going to his school in less than three days, the time she and Glynda had scheduled it, she was in no hurry to meet the man.

As the door to the cell finally opened and said green, bespectacled man walked in with a tray of cookies, Glynda stood to her height again and placed upon her face the usual mask of indifference. "Ozpin, sir, you're late."

Ozpin, his grey hair pointed at angles that not even Ruby could achieve to get her own hair at, smiled thinly before placing the cookies down at one end of the table, and his cane on the floor. Turning to his secretary, Ozpin smiled. "One time is of no consequence, Glynda-"

"You're late, _for the fifth time this month_."

All the man could do is chuckle under his breath and sigh, before sitting down opposite the obvious Raven Faunus in front of him. Seeing her unblinking stare, he sighed dramatically before pushing it towards her with a thin smile again. "Ruby Goodwitch-Rose."

Ruby rolled her eyes at this- idly she noted her mother seemed to be holding back the urge to do the same, obviously trying to keep up appearances around this man. She only did that around people she found somewhat untrustworthy, Ruby noted; then again, her mother found _everyone_ untrustworthy save for herself. "Yes, obviously, considering the fact that you've all but _begged_ mum to see me."

That was what he found interesting about her when Glynda had first described her daughter to him; she had a thick accent that reminded him of his now-second year student Velvet Scarlatina. It was slightly less thick than Miss Scarlatina's, but all the same he wondered how she got it- his mind wandered off slightly when he realised that he'd been staring for a good minute now, and Ruby was struggling to hold her polite façade together. Coughing into his hand to ease the tension he could feel from Ruby, he pushed the plate towards her almost lazily.

"These are for you; you may eat them if you want. If not…well, it would be a shame for such cookies to go to waste, no?" Glynda simply palmed her face at Ozpin's attempt to get Ruby's interest…and the sad thing was, it was working. Ruby's one weakness was cookies.

Ruby rolled her eyes- he was obviously baiting her into a false sense of security, trying to her lower her near-constantly raised guard and at least attempt to scale the mountain-high walls she'd erected around herself. He was trying to get a peek at the girl that is Ruby Rose. The thing was…it was working. She was grabbing cookie after cookie, swallowing them whole without an issue, with almost panicked speed. She finished them, much to Ozpin's astonishment and slight amusement, in less than ten seconds. A total of thirty cookies gone in ten seconds…wasn't that a world record?

Shaking his thoughts away, Ozpin leaned forward slightly, staring Ruby right in the eyes as she delicately wiped the remnants of cookie form her face. "You…have silver eyes."

Ruby bit back a scathing retort and simply rolled her eyes for the third time, idly wondering if she'd get the chance to punch that little grin off his face. She could see her mother biting back a retort as well- she did take after Glynda in a lot of aspects, after all. "And you have brown eyes."

"Very astute." Ozpin leaned back, getting comfortable. "Do you know who I am?"

She just gave him a deadpanned stare, as did Glynda, but both stopped when they realised he was actually dead serious. There he sat, calmly sipping from his coffee cup- Ruby questioned where he got it from and how it never seemed to empty- completely serious about the question he'd just asked. Even though he knew she knew who he was.

"…You can't be serious."

"Of course not- I was joking."

Glynda opted to keep the fact that he'd momentarily forgot that Ruby knew who he was and tried to play it off. It fooled neither of them. He obviously saw that neither were convinced, and decided to get straight to the point.

"Do you want to come to my school?" He was short, succinct, and to the point.

Ruby rolled her eyes for the nth time that day. "Obviously."

Hey, he said straight to the point, didn't he? Besides, no one must know of his little slip up. It would ruin him of Ironwood got a hold of this, because as strict as that man seemed he knew how to get under someone's skin or irritate them.

After the mountain of paperwork that undoubtedly waited for him on his desk back at Beacon, he did not need any more headaches, least of all from James.

(^^^^^^)

 **[One year, four months after meeting]**

" _Did you know there was a time I wished to die?" I muttered. The Fall Maiden simply looks at me for all but a second, before swinging her gaze back around to the wide expanse of red-stained snow surrounding us. "Like I didn't belong and wanted to end the awkwardness of it all…awkwardness only I could feel."_

" _I've…had those thoughts. Like I'm not meant to be here, like I'm an alien on a foreign planet. I feel I'm not ready for the world." After a second, she turned her head to me. "What about you?"_

" _I get the feeling that the_ world _isn't ready for_ me _. That I'm simply something not meant to exist, something not meant to live here." I looked down at the pile of Grimm bodies, slowly dissipating, the remains floating upwards until they vanished completely. "They're lucky, aren't they?"_

 _Fall didn't miss a beat with her answer. "They either have the courage to kill themselves, or the courage to fight until they die." She turned to me and, slowly, linked my left hand with her right one. "We're both cowards."_

 _I smiled wanly, chuckling a grim laugh. "At least we're cowards that'll end up dying together."_

(^^^^^^)

There's a particular word that Ruby's quite fond of to describe her boredom. A word that replaces, well…the word 'boredom'. A word that was so unique in its description, she would use it when either bored, or for simple shits and giggles. There's a reason Ruby created this word and it stemmed from when she met her first friend, one Pyrrha Nikos. That word, actually that sentence of words, was, and always will be, her favourite phrase. Because at the end of the day, she was the one stood here, eyes flittering around, trying to find her one best friend.

' _Fuck my life'._

It was when her mother had sent her to the annual Mistral Tournaments, but to spice things up, Ruby had made a bet; she would win the entire thing…with her fists. If she won, she'd get a new gunblade model that came out, but if she lost she'd have to help her mother around the house with cooking. It wasn't even that much of a bet, because Ruby did all the cooking in the house anyway. She loved her mother, she really did, but she had no quarrel with telling her to her face that her cooking was abysmal. Hence why she took it upon herself to make the food they both ate, on the condition that Glynda would do the washing up and place everything back where it should be, as well as buy all of the ingredients used to make it. For Glynda it was either buy the ingredients and pull her weight, or attempt to cook and possibly suffer food poisoning on a daily basis.

It wasn't a hard decision.

The Tournament wasn't even that hard- filled with flirty hotshots that thought they could impress a woman by winning, only to get their asses handed to them by the few in the matches that were actually there for legitimate reasons and had legitimate skills. The diversity of their weapon choices, the way they held themselves, the way they fought; all of it, Ruby had memorised. She watched with rapt attention and by the time her match-up came…she tore them down and stripped them bare for the world to see.

Some of them masqueraded as skilled, only to, in the end, end up as frauds, or in better terms people that flipped around to make themselves look skilled but in a straight up fight were as skilled as a four-year-old. Some of them didn't have skill at all, and didn't try, flinging around bullets and Dust attacks wildly in the hopes of hitting something or using their semblance with no worries about aura drain. What had incensed her to no end, and was something that caused her to literally hospitalise one of these types of people, was that _it worked_. They somehow scraped by with the barest amount of aura, while the skilled ones would get knocked out of the match simply because they'd been hit by the widespread, retardedly-thrown around attacks.

Because of this, the first tourney she went to was, to put mildly, boring. The challenge came at the finals.

Pyrrha the 'Invincible Spartan/Untouchable Girl' Nikos versus Ruby the 'Dust Ghost/Phantom Petal' Goodwitch. Two titans that had fought their way to the top of the tourney with prowess, skill, tenacity, and the highest amount of pure determination for a good fight that you've ever seen. Both women loved the thrill that is battle, and both loved it even more when their opponent could stand more than thirty seconds against them.

There was a saying that Ruby followed almost religiously while battling strong opponents. It is said that when two warriors of equal skill, beyond that of any others' comprehension, clashed together in the bond that is battle…a bond would form, one unbreakable and unworthy of time's rotting. The bond would last for years and decades, and transcend even death. When two rivals met with their attacks for the first time, they gained an understanding of each other that a million years of talking to each other could never hope to grant. They gained trust in their equal-in-strength opponent, simply through the first decisive thirty seconds of a match. Two warriors, clashing like titans that rivalled each other with the love of a close friend, able to understand the entire life of the other with a simple clash of weapons or fists, and with it love the other as they would love their own sister.

Ruby and Pyrrha walked in as rivals, intent for a good battle and- even Pyrrha would admit this- the thrill of the possibility of losing. In the end they walked out, both equally tired as they gained the first tie they'd ever experienced, and with grins miles wide on their tired, dirties faces. They walked in as rivals, and walked out as sisters, such is the bond of a warrior.

Sitting in a corner, hoping against hope that she wasn't spotted, as she listened to Ozpin's speech about 'wasted potential' and 'amounting to nothing', her eyes scanned across the room in hope that she'd spot her rival. She'd caught wind of her pseudo-sister in everything but blood signing up to attend Beacon, and Ozpin would be crazy not to allow her entry.

Her eyes made one more sweep, ignoring the speech being made, as she desperately hoped to see the red glaring hair and soft emerald eyes of her sister. Her eyes swept once more, almost desperately, before they stopped, and locked on to a sight she'd happily admit she missed.

Pyrrha's previously saddened face, presumably because she'd been searching for Ruby as Ruby had been for her, lit up and she smiled as her green eyes locked with Ruby's silver ones. Closing the distance in less than a second using her speed semblance, she found her face impacting against the bronze chest plate of her pseudo-sister. Pyrrha had bent her knees in preparation for the collision, and grinned widely, ignoring the pain of a having a human-shaped object slam into you at the speed of sound.

"Pyrrha, you have no idea how boring it's been without you." Ruby's face had the first non-battle-crazy smile that she'd ever had in nearly six months. Of course her mother making her smile doesn't count, so she counted this as her first in six months. She wiggled free from the grip with surprising ease- mostly because Pyrrha was trying to hold her closer if it were possible, which is why it was so surprising she could escape the normally iron-clad grip- and let of a sarcastic, limp salute.

Pyrrha giggled. To be honest she'd missed Ruby arguably more so than Ruby missed her. Aside from being her first friend that had seen her as an opponent and a friend, rather than 'The Invincible Girl' made her feel happy when they first met. Throughout their first match she hadn't stopped grinning, and neither had Ruby- though she suspected the small red-head's grin was that of finding a challenge, rather than actually enjoying her presence. In the end though they both walked out with a tie, something neither had ever expected nor experienced before, but that didn't mean they didn't enjoy the match and the results all the same. They practised harder, got stronger and faster, trained, and when their next Tournament match came around in the next year, Pyrrha and Ruby both met for the second time with genuine friendly smiles.

She still remembers that match; it had dragged out far longer than the previous one, the first match only lasting for about five minutes. This one lasted a full half-hour, and she could honestly say she was surprised she lasted as long as she did against Ruby. The only reason she could think of that came to her mind as a plausible reason for her second draw, was that Ruby had skill, whereas Pyrrha had experience.

Ruby had completely totalled her in the third Tournament, but it was the fourth that remained their truest, finest, most memorable battle yet. It lasted for a full hour; neither side had given ground, and neither side had tired themselves out, nor had they given up and their aura had remained in the green the entire time. The only thing the audience could see were blurs of red and black, and clashes of steel upon leather glove could be heard. The cameras had some sort of sensor in them that allowed the audience to see what was happening if two speed semblance users ever fought, and while Pyrrha didn't have a speed semblance, she'd learned how to channel her aura through her thighs and feet to boost her speed to inhuman levels. Ruby did have a speed semblance, and just as they whistle was blown, the audience had to cover their eyes and hide under their chairs…because they both broke the sound barrier at that point.

It was speed against polarity, and eventually speed won…. but not without a few scars and bruises to show for it. Ruby had a scar that ran across the side of her face, from the start of her chin to the edge of her left ear, from where Pyrrha had used her spear to aid her in reach; thankfully her long hair covered the scared side of her face, so she was all good. Pyrrha had her own set of scars from their battle, two fist-sized circles covering her stomach that she hid well enough with make-up and a little bit of aura manipulation. Ruby had apparently learned how to channel Dust through her gloves, and upon impact with her side, her entire being was thrown into burning agony- Pyrrha already knew Ruby could absorb anything Dust-related into them, which was scary enough, but to channel any Dust that it absorbed back out into kinetic damage…it was painful, brutal, and _efficient_.

Ruby had won that match through sheer tenacity, and Pyrrha would always respect her as the only person, as of now, to be able to defeat her.

Looking down at Ruby, she patted her head softly with a small smile, showing that she was genuinely happy to see her. Ruby simply gave a small grin back, before they both locked arms around the other's, strolling off together towards the sleeping area.

"Say, Pyrrha?"

Pyrrha looked sideways to see Ruby looked in deep thought, though her face still held the impassive mask she usually wore- it was odd and kind of frightening yet aweing to Pyrrha how Ruby could change facial expressions as quick as she did.

"I have this feeling…this _gut_ feeling."

Pyrrha paid rapt, focused attention now; she knew that Ruby always trusted her gut feelings, and they always turned out to be right; it reminded her of the small thing she'd heard her mother mentioning once, something about a 'sixth sense for danger'. If Ruby had that- and Pyrrha was wholly inclined to believe she did possess such a thing- it was wise to listen.

"Feeling? About what?"

Ruby's mask slipped, and her nose scrunched up slightly as she tried to place what the feeling was. Her eyes snapped to Pyrrha's own for a second, both looking serious, and both nodding a second later- an entire silent conversation had gone on in their heads just then, but it made sense that they'd both feel the same thing. Initiation was going to be interesting, but no matter what they'd both find each other.

Nodding once more to each other, and then turning to go to their assigned sleeping quarters, they both agreed that they'd find each other. NO matter how things went, or how bad things got, they both knew that the other was their only chance of survival for things to come; they _needed_ to be partnered up, and they needed to find each other. No matter who got in the way they would not be separated, and they would push through the four years of Beacon with the best marks and the best grades- all to get the best Huntress career in the future. They would be partnered up…

… _No matter what_. Because in the end, they both knew each other better than they knew themselves. And they both knew that as a team they were _invincible_ , they were _titans_.

Nothing could defeat them.

(^^^^^^)

 **[Six months after meeting]**

" _I'm new to these powers; Since the previous Maiden- my blood mother- passed, it's been difficult to even get a feel for them, but I know I have them." I muttered. "I doubt I will get used to them through simple aura control exercises."_

 _Fall rolled her eyes, but smiled thinly in amusement. "Come now, is a little exercise of the soul too much for itty-bitty Summer Maiden?"_

 _I stared at her for two minutes, and then spoke blankly. "I'm only nine and I'm taller than-"_

 _She palmed my mouth, crying out in false exasperation. "I know, I know!"_

 _After removing her hand from my mouth, I gave her a semi-serious look. "Are you sure this will help me?"_

" _Positive."_

 _We stayed in silence while I focused on projecting my aura, before she sighed once more. "Your unique eyes could be an issue though- they could either hamper your progress, or help it along." She sighed once more. "There's never been a Warrior as a Maiden."_

 _We both simply stared at each other, before going back to our exercises._

(^^^^^^)

Standing amongst her future classmates and Hunters-in-training, Pyrrha could feel pride in the fact that she had made it to Beacon in the way that she did. Sure, her title as 'The Invincible Girl' had made sure she was a shoe-in for a Beacon Application anyway. The fact that her skills and name went hand-in-hand didn't really do anything other than secure the already secured chance of her joining, application or not.

To her right she saw one Weiss Schnee, her eyes greedily drinking in everything that was more powerful than she was, and hoping to be teamed with them. Weiss downright refused to team up with Ruby, simply because the girl couldn't have possibly been the Ruby Goodwitch that Pyrrha herself was a rival of. Any rival of Pyrrha's had to be 'strong' and 'muscled' and 'powerful'. And while Pyrrha disagreed with everything Weiss believed in, she had to agree with her that, at first glance, Ruby didn't look all that strong in any way, shape or form.

 _At first glance_ , were the keywords to that sentence; because in all honesty, Pyrrha would admit without a doubt that Ruby was one of the strongest people she knew, rivalling her in raw speed and strength. And that's without the uses of her semblances. She was a damn monster in human form, but there was something else to her. She'd noticed that every time they had a spar, or a Tournament match, her silver eyes would glow, as though a hidden power lay dormant.

Perhaps she was over thinking it, because if a hidden power did exist, she was pretty damn sure Ruby would have found it by now…which would make her even more dangerous.

Great.

On a side note, she gets to train more to keep up with the young Goodwitch…so there's something.

Speaking of, Ruby was standing to her right, both of them sending cursory glances to everyone around them, silently judging and assessing- they both turned to each other and in a split second of eye contact, two words were formed that both shared.

No Weiss.

They would not have Weiss on their team if they could help it; the two rivals-turned-comrades-turned-sisters would _not_ have someone as blatantly racist, misguided and downright rude as her. Weiss had the outlook that the strong ruled over the weak, the rick over the poor, and everyone else just fell in line- following the rich and powerful around as though they deserved to be nothing more than cattle, with the powerful as shepherds. While yes, Ruby would agree that she could be changed, it would take time, effort, and resources that neither her nor Pyrrha could afford to give away- besides, the girl was bound to be searching for Pyrrha anyway to team up with her.

All Ruby had to do was get to the red head first.

While students were then shot off and upwards towards the forest, both Ruby and Pyrrha standing on the same springboard to ensure they were together, she heard that idiot Jaune Arc- or Vomit Boy as he was more predominantly known as- ask questions that had no answers, simply because said answers were flying a hundred and eighty miles an hour towards the Emerald Forest.

She briefly heard Pyrrha mutter something along the lines of _"He's cute"_ before they were launched as one unit through the air.

Ruby grinned; teasing material.

Flying through the air together, they both clapped their left hands with the other's left, and the same for the right, before their fingers clasped together and they began spinning. Nodding to each other, they both began turning their angle like a corkscrew, flipping on their side and corkscrew-diving their ways towards the temple ruins.

Ozpin, who was watching, frowned slightly; they were perfect team material- they knew each other's strength and weaknesses, and they both complimented each other perfectly. Ruby was the brains and brawn, with strength and intelligence in startling equal measure, while Pyrrha was the ranged and agile fighter with brains nearly matching Ruby and speed to cover her bases. They complimented each other so well, in fact, that they might just become the only pair without a team, because they'd simply grab the 'relics' and make their way back here without any issue. That's not what he wanted; he wanted three teams of four to be formed out of this, not two teams of six and one of two. He wanted- no, needed- them both to at least get to know their fellow huntsmen and huntresses-in-training, otherwise he'd have no choice but to put them together. No teammates, just those two.

And he'd never had to do anything like that before. He would admit that they were both skilled enough to push through on their own with minimal difficult, but together they were invincible. He didn't like that. His school was all about teamwork, and yes they did have teamwork…just not the kind he was after. He was after the type of teamwork that came with acknowledging and understanding others and their need for help.

He couldn't see either of them training anyone though.

Switching his thoughts to something more…brighter, he turned to see the bumbling idiot that is Jaune still falling towards the ground at blisteringly high speeds with his voice stuck in that ever-present womanly scream he could somehow emulate. Turning his attention to Glynda, he could see her barely containing a bout of chuckling. Raising an eyebrow in whatever the strict teacher would find funny, he turned his scroll back on and focused on the image she had sent him.

That Jaune boy had just landed, and it seems he landed with a tree branch breaking his fall…and probably ruining whatever chance he had of having children. Chuckling quietly to himself, he shifted his scroll back to watching the two prodigies, idly noting that Sky Lark and Dove Bronzewing have been ambushed by Grimm and were about to be eaten.

Neither he nor Glynda did anything- he warned them they might die, and now they were going to. Regrettable, but understandable, really. You had no place in a world of monsters if you could not adapt and kill said monsters before they killed you.

He turned his attention away from the gory sight of Dove and Sky being munched on by hungry Ursa Majors, shuffling his view back to Ruby and Pyrrha to see them already picking out their 'Relic'. It seems they were stuck between choosing the White Queen piece, or the Black Rook piece.

Eventually they solved it by a rather mature game of eenie-meenie-miney-moe, one of the most immature games he's ever seen, yet the best way to choose between two things if you lacked the ability to do so yourself. They settled for the White Queen piece, something that startled him slightly.

Nobody had _ever_ picked that piece.

Simply because of the responsibility it held that came with having such a piece. The White Queen piece had been ignored by many over the years simply because, for starters, he picked different relics each year, and used the chess pieces four times every decade. Hey, he needed to spice things up for his own amusement. The second was simply because the Queen piece was the most important piece there is, aside from the King- the King piece being the Maidens and the Queen piece being their destined protectors. Yes…perhaps he could deal with these two after all.

Of course it also dwindled down to the rumour he had spread years ago that the White Queen piece doomed anyone that chose it to a rather small and uneventful life.

Firstly, they needed a trip to Amber, and Ruby needed to see her especially, more so than Pyrrha did.

(^^^^^^)

 **[One year after meeting]**

" _I wish to know something."_

 _I turned my head to the sound of the voice, before motioning my hand and wrist in a 'continue' motion._

" _I wish to know what you think."_

" _Of?"_

" _People. Are we doing the right thing, saving these humans and Faunus that start war after war with each other simply because of a minor difference in race?" she turned to me, and I saw endless sorrow and sadness within her usually bright, cheerful eyes. "I want to save them, but I don't know why, and every time I do try, they push us away even further into the shadows. We've become nothing but myths and legends now. You, the newest Summer Maiden, and I, the newest Fall. We're nothing but empty shells with too much power surrounded by power-hungry people."_

 _She turned to me. "So why do we want to save them?"_

 _For once, I was stuck. How could I, a person that was a Faunus Maiden, answer about how bad it was that Faunus- my own people- were fighting humans, and vice-versa? I simply couldn't argue with it, because it was true. The Great Faunus War was pathetic; something started simply because one side couldn't be accepting. It was stupid and annoying and dark, and the aftermath is still felt today._

 _After a full minute of contemplation, I turned to the human besides me, and sighed. "I don't know, but I_ do _know they don't deserve our salvation."_

" _So why do we try?"_

"… _because we're hopelessly in love with the ideas that the world will become a better place by doing it."_

 _She simply hummed._

 _I turned to her. "I had best be leaving now. Mother thinks me on a training trip in Atlas."_

" _I wish you the best." She muttered distractedly._

(^^^^^^)

Swinging her left fist to obliterate the beowolf that was mid-lunge, she spun on her heel, lifting her Dust-infused Glove in an open palm to block the wide arc that is an Ursa's claw. After grabbing the claw of the now confused Ursa, Ruby used her other hand to ball itself into a fast, before driving it as hard as she could into the Ursa's bone plated mask. After the first straight jab, its mask cracked, the second obliterated it, and the third pulverised the black, inky face into nothingness. It began dissolving shortly after, and she mentally kept track of the amount of Grimm she's slain.

Spinning on her heels, she rapidly threw out two punches that landed squarely on the chest of an Ursa Major that attempted to use its brethren as a distraction. Of course the Major was young in terms of strength and defense, so she found her fist cracking its chest plate on the first hit. The next hit broke through completely, and on impact with its black fur, she channelled Dust through her gloved knuckles causing the beast before her to light up in a great flame of fire.

Not before long, the Grimm surrounding them both were obliterated.

Ruby nodded to Pyrrha, and they both dashed into a new batch of Grimm.

Ozpin, watching this spectacle form his scroll, sighed before looking upwards slightly. It's about time he got the teams thought up, in the very least. He's been doing nothing but lazing around watching Pyrrha and Ruby pick off waves of Grimm. But he could see they were tiring.

"Who are the teams, Glynda?" Ozpin sipped his coffee cup, his eyes never straying to the scroll in his hands which could easily show him the teams if he so wished to actually move his head downwards to see it. Instead, he hummed when Glynda sighed in frustration. Sometimes she didn't get paid nearly enough to deal with him.

Looking down to her scroll, her finger swept across the screen slightly, three or four times, until she found the relevant information. "Sky Lark, Russel Thrush and Dove Bronzewing are confirmed deceased, six others dead as well. Ruby Rose and Pyrrha Nikos have paired up, while Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester, surprisingly, partnered up too." After Ozpin's dissatisfied hum, she turned to him with anger showing in her voice. "I don't care what his transcripts say, that boy is not ready for Beacon, let alone combat as a whole. And don't get me started on Mister Winchester; he's a bigoted racist, and at a school with Faunus attending, he would not only drag Beacon's name down, but he hasn't the discipline for this life."

Ozpin, to be honest, completely agreed. While it may be heartless, Jaune was, in all honesty, terrible. His transcripts were obviously faked, but his hands were tied- if his parents learnt of his failing of Beacon, even if he didn't go to a Hunting school beforehand, they'd be up in arms. Talent spread throughout the Arc family line and, as much as he hated to say it, that talent must have avoided Jaune's generation. His aura wasn't even unlocked for god's sake! The boy was just asking to die. Perhaps he could salvage this…yes, contact the Director of Shade Academy maybe? He took in all forms of talent, whether weak and strong, and could do what Ozpin himself could not; make them into potential Hunters and Huntresses, whereas Ozpin would simply turn them away. That man could turn a turd into silver if given the resources.

As for Cardin…perhaps he could contact James, cash in a favour or two. The boy had talent, and it would be such a shame to get rid of said talent, bigotry or not. As for his attitude…well, that would be solved quite quickly with how much of a disciplinarian James could be.

Rolling his hand while sipping from his cup, he motioned for Glynda to continue. "As for other pairings; Miss Nora Valkyrie has partnered with Mister Lie Ren, Yang Xiao Long with Blake Belladonna, and Weiss Schnee is currently without a partner."

…maybe Ozpin could keep Jaune here after all. If anyone could bring out the talent in Jaune- whether nicely or not- Weiss could do it. Though he had stipulations about her being the leader of her own team…perhaps Jaune? He needed the encouragement, after all, and it might curb Weiss' little 'holier than thou' attitude.

After sipping his cup once more, he turned slightly to Glynda. "And potential teams?"

Glynda raised an eyebrow. Was he not using the chess pieces for the team-picking? Perhaps he had another way…the pieces must just be for partners, then. Shrugging, she turned to her scroll to analyse the skillset of each potential future student. "Well…Pyrrha Nikos, Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao-Long would be the perfect team of hard-hitters and a frontline squad. Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Weiss Schnee and, I'm assuming, Jaune Arc, would be the perfect back-up squad."

Turning to Ozpin, she lifted a delicate golden eyebrow. "Shall I make a call to Ironwood about Mister Winchester?"

Ozpin simply smiled thinly. Ah, trust Glynda to see what his plan was. Of course she didn't see everything, but she did see bits and pieces, and knew how to act accordingly. Sometimes she even got little glimpses into what he wanted to do with the currently comatose Amber, but she didn't get the whole picture.

"Thank you, Glynda."

She just scoffed slightly and went to work.

(^^^^^^)

 **[Two months after meeting]**

" _I wander around sometimes. When I get bored, I just sneak out at night and walk around."_

 _Fall turned to me. "Isn't that dangerous?"_

 _I simply sighed. She understood a lot but never did she understand how thrilling it could be to simply give up on morals for a night. Fall never understood the need to live a little and not follow rules all the time. "Anything in life that is worth doing is dangerous."_

 _Fall simply sighed. "I'm a whole two years older than you and, yet, you act so wise."_

 _I just shrugged. In all honesty I blame my mother for that- her no-nonsense, strict, book-smart attitude rubbed off on me, and I had read a lot of books. Granted most were poetry and philosophy, but it worked out in the end._

 _After a while of silence, Fall turned her head past the window of my bedroom that she'd snuck into and stared at the sky. "How long have we known each other?"_

 _I lifted an eyebrow, but responded nonetheless. "Somewhere around the two-month mark." After a minute, I asked her a question. "Why do you ask?"_

 _Instead, she answered me with a question that left me speechless for a while. "What would you do if you had just met someone that you have strong feelings for?" Me, being the young, impressionable nine-year-old I was, shook my head slowly to indicate I had no idea what she was getting at. "What would you do…if you'd known that person for about two months?"_

 _My eyes widened as a small blush coated my face; I could practically see her eyes burning with both desire and fear- undoubtedly both of those emotions were directed at me. I could see she was nervous from her body language…in all honesty it was cute, and her face was set stonily in case something went wrong. But eyes…they never lie. Especially not to me, and I could see her eyes told me something that she never would will herself to._

 _Fall loved Summer, and I was only just beginning to see how much that love was, how deep it went._

 _Of course the kiss we shared just cemented how much she felt, and how much I might feel too._

(^^^^^^)

After grabbing the piece, Ruby and Pyrrha went halfway towards the cliff before they decided to turn this into a contest of 'who can kill the most Grimm before others show up?'. The contest turned into a game, of which she and Pyrrha were having tremendous fun with, and to be honest neither of them wanted this to be a contest anymore; this was purely fun now, and it didn't matter how much she kept score, in the end she knew they'd both be equal.

When the first wave of Grimm died off, they made it to a set of ruins that led up to the cliffs, and they spent the next half an hour destroying wave after wave with nothing but boredom and spare time. This game wasn't even fun anymore, just troublesome. Turning to Pyrrha to see her finish off a pair of Beowolves that tried to sneak up behind her, Ruby whistled in appreciation. In response, Pyrrha just whistled back as she noticed the gratuitous amount of Grimm blood staining her clothing. Thankfully it was vanishing, but at a slower rate than the Grimm themselves did.

"How many?"

Pyrrha grinned in response. "Forty-two. You?"

Ruby grinned wider. "Forty-three." Pyrrha groaned in response. "Looks like I win again." After another groan from Pyrrha and another grin from Ruby, followed by a chuckle under her breath, Ruby questioned the red head opposite her. "So what's the overall score?"

Pyrrha hummed in response, distracted by the not-so-manly scream that echoed throughout the forest surrounding them. Turning her head from the scream of that boy she knew to be Jaune, she looked at her rival. "I think we're even…again." She sighed this time, her hand rubbing her forehead- she'd removed her golden forehead protector to do so. She could feel the migraine of spending so much aura. She needed to learn how to control her semblance a little bit more. "I think the overall score is forty-five to both of us."

Ruby hummed in response, before turning her head to see one Blake Belladonna walk out of the forest surrounding them with Yang Xiao-Long trailing behind her. The blonde of the two was taking in everything around them, oblivious to the scent of death that permeated around them not two minutes ago, while Blake eyed the two with a cursory glance- her bow twitched and her nose crinkled slightly, hinting that she was both a Faunus and quite aware of the Grimm creatures that had died on this ground a short while ago.

Ruby turned to Pyrrha and nudged her towards a small circle of stone that jutted out from the ground; it almost seemed like last year's Initiation had been something to do with survival, and had forced teammates to set up campsites and survive a night. She could still smell the coal that burned here, the air still thick with the Burn Dust they must have used to light the fire, and the scent of frayed flesh. Turning her head to the massive ravine that split them from the cliff, only passable with the use of the crumbling, ancient stone walkways that winded upwards towards the top of the steep cliff's edge, she grimaced. That was probably the graveyard of many a poor fool's weapon.

Bodies, soon after death, decomposed in a similar manner to that of Grimm, in that they dissipated and evaporated into the very air around them, but with the twist of their soul never moving past the realm of the physical. To humans and Faunus alike, the soul was an intangible mess of different colours that made up a person, but to those that have witnessed a comrade die right before them, it was the very air they breathed and the Dust they use to stave off Grimm- Ruby felt a little jaded after experiencing the horrific sight that is someone dying. They simply stopped breathing. No pulse, no Aura, nothing; and then they began to disappear, they float upwards and evaporate. They simply _were_ …and then they _weren't_.

She'd always remember Summer's death- she may not have known her birth mother very well, but she remembered enough about her to remember how much she loved her. And the exact way she died. Hard to forget a death when you're four with photographic memory and a penchant for never forgetting even the tiniest details on the off chance they may be important.

All that would be left of a dead person would be their weaponry and anything that wasn't soaked in their aura. Graveyards simply contained that person's worldly possessions and a few heirlooms, which simply enticed a lot of grave robbers to go 'shopping'. A shame, really. If it were just bodies then nothing would happen, but because they'd dabbled too much in Dust, their bodies simply could not contain a physical form once the heart stops.

It made her feel sad at the thought- odd, that was an emotion she'd made sure to never feel since Summer's passing.

Pyrrha turned to Ruby and could see the conflict in her eyes, the war going on in her head. It was something that both confounded her and made her curious. She may know Ruby, possibly more than the girl knows herself, but even Pyrrha can't tell what the clearly tumultuous thoughts that run through Ruby's head are.

They both heard the snapping of trees and turned their heads, only to sweatdrop simultaneously at the very sight. There she was, Nora Valkyrie, riding atop an Ursa. There was nothing more to add to it really- a girl with blazing orange hair that reminded her a little too much about of Torchwick's own orange brand of dusty burnt hair, swinging arms around, smiling and grinning…while atop an Ursa.

Ruby was many things, but not crazy enough to do that. Nope. Never would she ever ride atop an Ursa as crazily as that girl had done.

This girl had earned her respect for such a daring move, in any case.

Once the Ursa had died and the girl descended to the ground in fits of both disappointment and mock sadness, her companion finally showed- a boy with Eastern-style green clothing, his hair as black as night with a small streak of pink flowing through it. His sleeves were slightly distended, showing where his potential weapons may lie, but the boy looked more like a hand-to-hand specialist. Like she, herself, was, as well as her sister Yang.

He seemed to be panting, obviously not used to chasing after things- or running away from them- for a very long time. He almost seemed quite complacent of the orange girl's rather odd showing of Ursa-Riding. As he panted out his next words, Ruby didn't hear them due to her being far away- and not really caring to be honest-, he shot upwards when Blake grabbed his attention by waving her hand and then pointing to the spot where she used to be.

Ruby widened her eyes- she has a goddamned speed semblance, and Ruby didn't even see the girl move! All she saw was that she was there one second, and gone the next! Although…it could just be that she was too distracted trying to mentally prepare herself for the next odd thing that was bound to happen.

Weird things always seemed to happen around her. First Roman, then the whole Initiation, and now this freak show of an orange- "Is she dancing and singing!? In the middle of a goddamn Grimm-filled Forest? ON INITIATION!?"

As poor Ruby attempted to wrap her head around the odd scene of Nora chanting 'I'm Queen of the castle' while waving around a chess piece, Pyrrha simply blinked owlishly at the scene before patting her friend's back. She knew how weird Ruby's life already was. Hopefully this girl wasn't on the same team as her, otherwise…well she'd flip her shit to be honest. Less of an explosive flipping of the shit like Ruby would do, but still pretty explosive.

…attempting to ignore the sight before her, while Yang and Blake blubbered incoherently at the sight, Pyrrha turned her head to the sound of screaming… _womanly_ screaming. Mentally, she sighed. _'For such a scraggly young man, his scream reaches heights I'm not even sure I could get to'_. Ignoring the brown-haired, armoured individual running at them with both arrogance and fear on his features, she turned her head upwards to see Jaune falling downwards, only to get hit halfway through by a stray swing of something white that slammed into him, knocking him to the safety of a nearby tree.

Ruby just curled up into a ball and began crying. Why couldn't anything go her way and be simple for once!? As if to answer her call, the brown haired man, heavily armoured and resembling something of a knight, was slammed through the air and landed four feet away from her, on his face and growling through the obvious pain he felt.

"Great, the gang's all here!" Yang, the sister she really wants nothing to do with right now, began spinning around in faux-cheer, annoying the hell out of the already twitching-in-anger Ruby. Pyrrha simply patted her friend's back in sympathy. Her general luck was just awful, and things like this always seemed to happen. "Now we can die together!"

Tilting her on the 'die' part, Ruby looked behind her and blanched. There stood a Deathstalker; but not just any Deathstalker, no, this one was an Ancient Deathstalker. This one had fought humans for as long as there had been humans, it had survived wars and battles against the toughest Hunters and Huntresses, and had come out wearing scars on its armour as a symbol of both pride and danger. This Grimm was dangerous…and even Ruby can honestly say that she has no desire to face it one on one, and definitely not with an audience watching. She could take the thing down with her Silver-eyed Warrior powers- she was still thinking of a name for it- or she could obliterate it with her Maiden powers, but there were two issues. Well, not two, but seven. And they were all staring at the Deathstalker with fear in their eyes. Even Pyrrha was nervous and slightly frightened.

Turning to Ruby, she simply whitened even more in fear- if that was possible- and stared at the sky, mouth agape and eyes trembling in fear.

Above them was a Nevermore; a beautiful creature in her eyes, but maybe that was because she was practically one-part bird. It soared majestically in the skies, ruling over them with an iron talon and wings of steel, feathers like daggers being thrown around with each beat of its beautiful wings.

She had no reason to fight the creature.

"I…think we should grab our pieces and sprint the fuck out of here as fast as we can."

Jaune, now recovered and standing next to an irate Weiss Schnee, sighed in relief and lifted his thumb in the direction of a hill that would take them all closer to the cliff. "Run and live? Now that's a plan I can get behind."

Thankfully the Nevermore hadn't spotted them yet, so they had time to sprint away. Cardin, the brute of a man wearing full body armour, gave a sneer at Jaune while looking around nervously. "I hate to say it, but I agree with the pipsqueak. We should leave." Then he turned his head to Ruby, and noticed the features indicating she was a bird Faunus. "But I refuse to follow around a filthy animal like you."

Blake tensed up, ever so slightly but still noticeable, while Ruby rolled her eyes. "Fine, stay and die then." And without a word, Pyrrha, Ruby, Yang, Blake and, surprisingly, Nora, all followed along after their impromptu leader. Ruby wasn't exactly happy about being placed in a leadership role, but whatever. The sooner she got rid of them the better.

Thankfully, her leadership skills shone through when she managed to get them to the ruins nearest to the cliffs of Beacon. In fact, she could just make out- by squinting and focusing really hard- the figure of Ozpin staring at her, watching with an ever-keen eye. His green suit seemed to blend in with the background he was surrounded by, bushes behind him forcing his outfit to become invisible to all but a predator's gaze- thankfully her 'breed' of Faunus were known to be quite...keen of eye.

And she frowned and spat out her distaste at the thought she had.

The bastard was going to make her a leader of a team… _wonderful_ , but she could hardly focus on that with the screech that just came behind her. The screech reminiscent of a …bird. "Oh fuck."

Spinning on her heel, she shouted at the top of her lungs in the mightiest voice she could muster. "GET DOWN!" Ducking down soon after Ruby shouted, Pyrrha watched on as Ruby was about to duck, but began running towards the clearly confused Jaune. Why was he confused, you ask? Well, Cardin wasn't there with them, obviously ascending the cliff, managing to slip past them as they all crouched to avoid the hail of razor sharp black feathers. Each feather was the size of two fully grown men stacked on top of each other, eluding that this Nevermore had slain creatures mightier than themselves with very little difficulty

While muttering 'oh shit, oh shit' over and over again in her head, Ruby used, against her mother's wishes, her speed semblance, blurring forward at neck-breaking speeds. Since her miniature battles this morning, as well as the mental stress that came with using her aura-infused gloves a lot, the toll taken on her body after using such speeds almost caused her heart to give out. She slammed into Jaune, sending them both sprawling on the floor; she could faintly hear her heartbeat thundering in her ears, as well as the feeling of blood rushing out of an open wound, before her eyes and vision both began blurring.

She could see the knocked out Jaune beneath her, and black spots encroaching around her vision. Looking up as she heard the noise of screeching, her vision cleared momentarily to see the Deathstalker from earlier running towards them both. Groaning in pain she grabbed Jaune's arm, obviously dislocated with the amount of movement she could feel it making, and grunting in exertion she flared her aura into her legs and arms, and began speedily dragging the blonde to one of the pillars surrounding them. The Deathstalker's stinger slammed into the ground right where they used to be not a second ago, but thanks to Ruby's aura working to heal her eyesight and slow down the effects of the obvious concussion she had, she managed to get them out of the radius. Regardless though they both felt their feet leaving the ground, and Ruby felt her head slam into something obviously metal, before closing her eyes and allowing darkness to take over her vision.

Pyrrha grabbed Ruby out of mid-air, her head slamming against her chest- but she tried to mitigate the damage that would be done to Ruby's head by bending her knees to the ground and bringing her down with her.

Pyrrha turned to see Jaune being dragged behind a pillar by Weiss, who was screeching at his now-awake body to get up and do something…right after she unceremoniously slammed his shoulder back into place, of course. Beyond Weiss' screeching for Jaune to get up and drag his weight, Pyrrha could hear the black haired girl, Blake if she recalled correctly, gasp in what seemed to be fear.

Looking up, she saw what made her fearful…the Deathstalker on the ground, seemingly watching them with hunger displayed in its eight eyes, while the Nevermore hovered up above, its wings sending feathers flying ever closer to their direction. They were metaphorically dead, and soon that would turn literal if they couldn't find some way to escape their situation. With Ruby unconscious they didn't stand that much of a chance, and with Jaune having to take the red girl's place, Pyrrha could say that they would be doomed. It would seem she'd have to do everything herself, but that just wasn't possible. Besides, she didn't yet know the skill level of the other people with her; Nora, for example, seemed to have superhuman strength, while Ren had aura control that far exceeded both hers and Ruby's combined. Blake had speed on her side, while Weiss had agility and Yang had…brute strength; nothing more than that, she was all 'take hits, dish out twice as much'.

Ruby called her type a 'juggernaut': Able to speed in to a crowd of enemies, and destroy them with sheer strength and endurance, able to outlast damn near every single opponent they come across; even Ruby didn't want to fight Yang and her 'type', but that was simply because Ruby was the type to deal high amounts of damage in the shortest amount of time given. A juggernaut could simply outlast her and knock her out or kill her while she tired herself out. Pyrrha was pretty much the same type of fighter as Ruby was, so she'd hope to never go against the blonde.

…and then there was her semblance; Pyrrha shivered, Yang sneezed.

Then there was Jaune; no skill, no semblance, but the boy had more aura than Ruby and Pyrrha combined. The problem was…he, by the looks of him, didn't even know how to wield a weapon, let alone what aura was.

If they all combined their sheer strength, agility, control, speed, strength and…well, adding in Yang…they might live.

Might.

Pyrrha sighed; today has been too long a day for her to enjoy. If they survived, she was going to tell Ruby that she was a stupid girl for exhausting herself like that, then she'd steal her scroll and text her girlfriend telling her what happened, and then she'd drag the girl off to a shop and buy her all the strawberries she could ever desire.

She sighed once more, rallying everyone else behind her. _'Today is just not my day'_.

Then Ruby's eyes opened wide with flames of green and red spewing forth from her sockets, her body shooting upwards and hovering in the air, and a calming wind passed around them all…before plants bloomed around them, and the very earth split beneath them.

Vines shot forth form the forest, entangling the Nevermore above in a thorny covering, destroying its wings with laughable ease and grounding it almost instantly. The ground split beneath it and the sky thundered with intent, before a single spire of earth shot upwards, impaling the creature.

It died instantly, dissipating before the spire had even gone all the way through.

The Deathstalker, though, was old. Strong, powerful, and above all, smart. It knew who this was- no, it had no idea who this was, but it knew what this was. It had instinct deeply ingrained to constantly engorge itself upon the souls of the humans and Faunus around it. Yet this thing in front of it made its instincts go back on themselves, and it both horrified it and intrigued it.

A new maiden so soon? Probably a relative of the Summer maiden. Regardless, it knew when to flee and when to fight- years of fighting have granted it intelligence beyond any other Grimm to its knowledge.

(^^^^^^)

Everyone stared, slack-jawed and afraid, as Ruby prowled the halls of Beacon towards the headmaster's office; her right eye aflame with her Maiden powers, her left with her Warrior ability. Silver flames danced behind her, some sort of ancient, invisible Oni mask hovering behind her with a sinister grin, teeth jagged and pointed outwards as it opened its mouth. People scurried to and fro, hoping to avoid what an angry Ruby would look like- they've seen an angry Yang, an angry Nora, and an angry Weiss…but never an angry Ruby.

People started praying for the old headmaster's soul, or his sanity depending on who you were praying for- most simply hoped that he survived the encounter. Ruby might be a student, but Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned; most of the students knew of this universal rule- the rule of 'do not, under any circumstances, piss of a woman'. Ozpin broke that rule. How, they did not know, why they knew not either, but they felt sorry for him.

Ozpin had done something no one had yet managed to do; no one had yet managed to achieve, no one had yet managed to accomplish.

He had pissed her off. Royally.

Storming through the doors to his office, Ruby Goodwitch-Rose paused when not one set, but two sets of eyes bored into her being. The Oni mask that wasn't even in existence in the first place vanished, her intent to slaughter every male in a fifty-mile radius of herself dissipating faster than a dying beowolf. Her anger gave way to fear; worry and trepidation following soon after, for in front of her with grim expressions and frowns on both of their faces, were Headmaster Ozpin and General James Ironwood. She felt fear; if Ironwood was involved, you can be damn sure it was never a good thing- either that or he was here for you specifically, and even more reason to be wary.

Her mouth opened to mutter some apologies, but before Ruby could speak, Ironwood turned back to Ozpin, his eyes with a silent question- something which Ruby had failed to notice. Discreetly she slipped on her gloves, sure that they hadn't seen what she could do with them on, or if they knew then she was at least sure that they didn't see whether she had them on when she came in. Ozpin turned to Ruby, eyes calm but eyebrows creased, mouth set in a thin line with hands entombed within the other just under his nose.

"Miss Goodwitch." His voice was flat, but she could practically feel the worry oozing from the undertones of it. What put her on edge though was the fact that he never called her 'Miss Goodwitch'. It was always either 'Miss Ruby' or when he was feeling particularly cheeky and/or happy, she was just 'Ruby'.

"Uh…Sir?" Right now she hated herself; all that fire, all that heat inside her at the thought of pummelling Ozpin into a pulp, all because she found a camera in the girl's changing rooms. Of course, being a woman she assumed that Ozpin had planted it there in some sort of hidden perversity, but now she was beginning to think someone else- a fellow male student, perhaps- had done it and she had come here for the simple reason to be scrutinised under the eyes of the two most powerful men in Vale and Atlas respectively. Oh, after this the person that thought it funny to peek on her and the other females of Beacon would be in for a shocker. A shocker the size of her fist, that is.

The man next to him eyed her for a second before turning to the grey haired ban next to him, a steeled look laced with incredulity. " _This_ is the new Summer Maiden? This little girl is the one Amber taught?"

And at those words, something _changed_. The room grew colder, yet no chill could be felt, the air seemed thicker and tangible, so much so that Ironwood could swear that if he shot a bullet into the air in front of him, he'd hear the very wind rip. It was enough to make even him a little bit wary- but obviously the source of the ire that the Maiden felt wasn't directed at him. Turning to see Ruby's half-silver half-orange left and right eye respectively, he saw that she was focused on the man next to him- it was obviously Ozpin she was glaring at, what with the fact that the man was sweating and his eyes actually held a trace amount of fear. He was strong, sure, both of them were, but even Ironwood would admit to not wanting to fight an angered Maiden.

"Where. Is AMBER!?"

(^^^^^^)

 _Once upon a time there lived a man; old, wizened, grey hair sprouting from his balding head and a permanent scowl upon his face. He'd never smiled, never, because everything he used to smile for had passed from the world. He was a relic of a time before the Grimm, of a time when mankind had just discovered the creatures, of a time when the planet was full of life and love both. In equal measure his heart both cried and screamed; defiance leaking from his pours, and from his defiance of the soulless creatures of Grimm came power unimaginable._

 _He saved with his power, protected, but humanity became greedy- they sought out his power like they would mine the wrath of nature they had named Dust. They hunted him, killing and imprisoning all he knew and cared for simply because they became desperate. They thought "if we can control that power, we can eradicate the Grimm". But the man had seen their desperation, their fear, and he saw the atrocities they had committed in the name of survival._

 _And so he disappeared._

 _Years later four maiden seasons of Fall, Summer, Autumn and Winter, arrived at a monastery deep within the woods of a long-forgotten place. Hungry, tired, afraid and kind; oh-so very kind, so how could he turn them away?_

 _Taking them in, feeding them, yet keeping his distance for he knew they'd die of their own greed. They were human after all, they were frail and filled with the dark emotions that attracted the creatures of dark so much; he waited for the Grimm to come to prove his point._

 _An entire year filled with four seasons passed as the girl gained back their strength, and he was proven wrong. They were kind, unafraid to tell the man he was foolish to isolate himself- he told his story after much deliberation, his life laid bare. He expected screams and shouts for him to surrender his power, cries for his eradication, yet they did no such thing. Instead they showed him kindness almost unbearable. They showed him smiles filled with nothing but acceptance and no small quantity of pity and understanding._

 _And so, when their time came to leave his place, he gave then a gift, a thanks for showing him that humanity was redeemable, despite their past misgivings, that not all humans were cruel. That they could be calm like the season of Winter, playful like the season of Autumn, understanding like the season of Summer, and caring like the season of Fall. Humanity could be like the seasons, and knowing of his age and his closeness to the afterlife, he gave them his powers._

 _Nature's wrath condensed into four beings, all kind, all showing him that humanity was redeemable of their sins, worth saving from the creatures that surrounded them in the shadows._

 _The maidens left, grateful and thankful._

 _And he passed a day later with a smile on his face, for he never once frowned since they had appeared, and he never once frowned after they had left._


End file.
